“Lennie’s worst enemy is his own strength”
...Lennie says “ Jus’ a dead mouse, George. I didn’t kill it. Honest! I found it. I found it dead” he warns us from Lennie’s obsession and also strange one. This shows his obsession of petting dead animals. His lack of intelligence doesn’t allow him to difference between a dead mouse, which could have diseases, with a living mouse. Lennie’s strength can also be his friend; Lennie is a very good worker. “…I say he’s a god-damn good worker. He can put up four-hundred-pound bale.” George said the first time he got into the ranch talking to the boss. His strength makes his farm work easier. If he didn’t have this, he would be a useless human being. His strength is also a very good thing because it helps him be able to defend himself. An example is when Lennie fights with Curley he holds his fist and crushes it. “But Lennie watched in terror the flopping little man whom he held.” “He stood crying, his fist lost in Lennie’s paw” This can also be a bad thing because he broke Curley’s hand and didn’t intend to. A bad attribute that Lennie has is his lack of control over his intentions and actions. Lennie is “strong as a bull” says George, but the misuse of that strength can be a terrible error. This lack of control is proved in Weed, when Lennie is petting the girl’s dress. George describes this when he tells Slim that the incident in weed occurred because of Lennie’s lack of control. He was petting the girl’s dress until she started to yell. The only thing that Lennie can think to do is hold on, and this makes the girl think that she is going to get harmed “that gets Lennie all mixed up, and he holds on ‘cause that’s the only thing he can think to do” Lennie is confused so the only thing he can think of doing is holding on, this occasion is also shown in the fight with Curley. After this, Lennie’s intentions were not bad but the girl didn’t interpret it like that “this girl squawks and squawks.” “Lennie’s so scared all he can think to do is jus’ hold on. I socked him over the head with a fence picket to make him let go. He was so scairt he couldn’t let go of that dress. And he’ so god-damn strong, you know”. George has to hit Lennie over the head to make him react; this shows...